The cage has always been a different challenge for me, a different fear. One where you fight alone and nobody there to save you. Mess up. And your chances are over. There is nobody else to blame, but yourself. There are only a few people brave enough of getting punched in the face and getting paid for it. Combat sports are the loneliest forms of competition in the world and once inside of that cage, we call "the unknown" you accept the inevitability of physical harm.
Every time I face my opponent, I think back to an article I once read about an interview with one of the greatest female MMA fighters. "Sometimes we need to get hurt and need to get into a fight just to be reminded that we're still human and that we are not living in bubble wrap." We don't enjoy hurting people, i
